Arc de Triomphe to be wrapped

After the Louvre’s courtyard got an ephemeral makeover last week thanks to muralist JR’s paper trompe l’oeil, it’s now the turn of the Arc de Triomphe, another iconic Parisian monument, to get revamped. Christo, an internationally famous artist, is about to wrap the arch in 270,000 square feet of blue recyclable fabric and 23,000 feet of red rope. The piece will be called “L’Arc de Triomphe Wrapped (Project for Paris, Place de l’Etoile-Charles de Gaulle)” and was first conceived by Christo in 1962 when he lived in Paris with his late wife, Jeanne Claude. Almost 60 years later, that initial vision will come to life.

Christo’s work will see the arch covered completely in a silvery blue, recyclable polypropylene fabric in from April 6 to April 19, 2020. While the project’s final look is still somewhat of a mystery, Christo has already made illustrations of his expected result.

The project will coincide with an exhibition of Christo and Jeanne Claude’s work while they lived in Paris in the late 50s and early 60s at the Centre Georges Pompidou, from March 18, 2019, to June 15, 2020.